Representatives of African-American community groups demonstrated at the California Highway Patrol’s Central Los Angeles station Monday, demanding answers and accountability after an officer was caught on video repeatedly punching a woman.

The demonstration spurred an impromptu appearance by the agency’s second-in-command, Deputy Commissioner Ramona Prieto, who assured the delegation that CHP had assembled its “top investigators” to probe the encounter.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office has agreed to assist the CHP with the investigation at the agency’s request, Jane Robison of the DA’s Office said Monday.

Prieto declined to release the officer’s name or discuss anything specific about the case, citing the Peace Officers’ Bill of Rights — a state law that protects law enforcement officers.

“I don’t have anything to tell you right now,” Prieto said. “Our investigation is nowhere close to being complete.” The CHP is determining whether policies and procedures governing the encounter can be released.

A video taken by a motorist emerged last week showing the white CHP officer on top of 51-year-old Marlene Pinnock, raining down punches to her upper torso and face area. According to the CHP, the woman had been walking barefoot along the side of the westbound 10 Freeway — and at times within traffic lanes — in Los Angeles at La Brea Avenue about 5:40 p.m. on July 1. When the officer advised her to stop walking, she was nonresponsive and then was placed under arrest after she became “physically combative” and a physical altercation ensued. An off-duty officer helped in handcuffing Pinnock, according to the CHP.

The encounter looked more like a fight than an effort to subdue a suspect, said NAACP Los Angeles Chapter President Minnie Hadley-Hempstead.

“When an officer uses force, we feel it should fit the violation,” Hadley-Hempstead said, questioning what the woman was accused of doing to incite the encounter.

Meanwhile, civil rights leaders will meet with the head of the California Highway Patrol at 2 p.m. Tuesday in Culver City to discuss their concerns about the beating. CHP Commissioner Joseph A. Farrow will fly in from Sacramento to meet with them at the CHP’s West Los Angeles area office, said Sgt. Denise Joslin, a spokeswoman with the CHP Southern Division.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson of the Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable, has called for a federal investigation and will ask the CHP at Tuesday’s meeting to complete the probe in a reasonable time.

“Obviously, something went badly wrong, terribly wrong for this to happen,” he said in a phone interview. “What kind of training, procedures, tactics, policies? You need to review that thoroughly. Something is missing somewhere in terms of training of your officers and dealing with people who have mental challenges.”

The investigation could be over within a month — a ballpark guess, Prieto said. In the meantime, the officer has been reassigned to desk duty, she said.

John Burris, one of the attorneys representing the family of the beaten woman, said they “certainly will file a lawsuit” against the CHP.

“It certainly looks like excessive force, a violation of the Fourth Amendment. … At the very least, obviously assault and battery. … I never had a case where a woman was assaulted in this kind of vicious manner ever,” Burris said.

As of Monday, Pinnock had been on a psychiatric hold for several days and was awaiting a hearing to evaluate whether she is fit to be released, he said.

Brenda Gazzar is a multilingual multimedia reporter who has worked for a variety of news outlets in California and in the Middle East since 2000. She has covered a range of issues, including breaking news, immigration, law and order, race, religion and gender issues, politics, human interest stories and education. Besides the Los Angeles Daily News and its sister papers, her work has been published by Reuters, the Denver Post, Ms. Magazine, the Jerusalem Post, USA Today, the Christian Science Monitor, the Los Angeles Jewish Journal, The Cairo Times and others. Brenda speaks Spanish, Hebrew and intermediate Arabic and is the recipient of national, state and regional awards, including a National Headliners Award and one from the Associated Press News Executives' Council. She holds a dual master's degree in Communications/Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Texas at Austin.

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